A weekend of mixed emotions for the Bees as on Saturday the Raiders made the trip to the Slough Ice Arena for the first leg of the Everyone Active Shield, which ended with both teams equal on aggregate on 2-2. But then when the Bees made the trip to the Sapphire on Sunday, the Raiders took a 5-2 win leaving them winning 7-4 on aggregate.

Bees IHC 2-2 Raiders IHC

Starting in goal for the Bees was Brython Preece while in goal for the Raiders was Brad Windebank. Early on the Bees worked hard to apply pressure onto the Raider’s defence to test Windebank but the Bees could not get past the Raiders goalie despite good efforts coming in from Marcel Balaz and Vanya Antonov. Some good chances for the Raiders came from
Sean Barry and Jake Sylvester, with seemingly every Raider face-off win, Jake Sylvester would get a chance to shoot at the Bees goal when he was on the ice. With not long left in the first period Brython Preece was forced into making some incredible saves as the Bees were put under pressure as they found themselves on a penalty kill as Oliver Knaggs. at 15:51, was faced with a 2 minute Tripping Penalty. Right at the end of the first period Liam Morris found himself having a disagreement with Aaron Connolly and received a 2+2 for roughing at 19:38.

The Raiders came into the second period with an early unassisted goal from Nicholas Leyer timed at 20:19. The Bees were had a 5 on 3 chance as Jacob Ranson received a 2 minute Slashing Penalty timed at 24:12 then at 25:48 Blahoslav Novak received a 2 minute Roughing penalty but they were not the ones to come out of this opportunity with a goal it was the Raiders as Jacob Ranson came out of the penalty box to score the 2nd Raides goal at 24:40 with assists awarded to Adam Laishram and Elliott Dewey. After more attempts on the Raiders net, Adam Rosbottom got one past Brad Windebank at 30:53 to make the game 1-2 with assists awarded to Marcel Balaz and Dominik Gabaj. Domink Gabaj after his assist on Adam Rosbottoms goal went back for his own goal to tie the game at 37:00.

Both teams came out for the third period eager to try and gain the lead but this period of hockey turned out extremely defensive for both teams as neither team scored or even was given a penalty. Dan Rose received the man of the match awarded for the Bees. 

Raiders IHC 5-2 Bees IHC

Brett Sheppard was the starting netminder for the Bees while in net for the Raiders was Ethan James. The Bees found success early on in the period through Vanya Antonov with the game opening goal timed at 04:43 with an assist given to Will Stead but Raiders were quick to react to Vanya Antonov’s goal as Jacob Ranson equalises at 06:28 with an assist awarded to Blahoslav Novak. Harry Harcup found himself facing a 2 minute Tripping penalty timed at 12:42 and Aaron Connolly took advantage of this situation and helped Raiders take the lead yet again in this competition with assists given to Thomas Relf and George Norcliffe.

Adam Laishram extended the Raiders’ lead early on into the second period at 22:01 assisted by Jake Sylvester and Ethan James and again, at 26:25, Adam Laishram got to the back of Brett Sheppard’s net with an assist this time going to Jack Cooper. Harry Harcup then found himself on a breakaway chance against Ethan James and slotted the puck home at 38:14 to make the game 4-2 and this saw us to the end of the second period.

Raiders yet again found themselves with early success in the third period with Brandon Ayliffe at 45:27 making the score 5-2, with an assist again going to Jack Cooper. The Bees kept pushing the Raiders into a defensive game and Brendan Baird had a good chance to bring the Bees back into the contest but Ethan James was constantly shutting down all the chances Bees were creating in attempts to close the gap on the scoreboard. Unfortunately the Bees were unable to close the gap and the Raiders skated away with the Everyone Active Shield for the 2023/24 season and the Bees man of the match award went to Vanya Antonov.